Practice golf putting cup



March 14, 1961 c. A. ZLOTNICKI 2,974,959

PRACTICE GOLF PUTTING cup I Filed Nov. 20, 1959 CHESTER A. ZZOT/V/CK/ IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY nite States Patent PRACTICE GOLF PUTTING CUP Chester A. Zlotnicki, 34 Pulaski St., Stamford, Conn.

Filed Nov. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 854,345

3 Claims. (Cl. 273-177) This invention relates to a practice putting cup which can be used either indoors or outdoors.

Putting is one of the most difficult strokes to perfect in golf, and as it does not involve a hard hit ball it can be practiced indoors as well as outdoors. A number of practice putting cups have been proposed in the past. For the most part these cups have included ramps so that when placed on a flat surface, such as a living room carpet, the putted ball climbs the ramp and falls into a central depression. This type of putting cup is cheap to make but does not reproduce reliably the conditions of an actual hole on a putting green.

The behavior of a normal hole includes at least three characteristics. The first is that no matter how slowly the golf ball is moving if it rolls over the rim of the cup it will fall in. The second is that if a golf ball strikes the edge of a hole and is not traveling too rapidly the rim will deflect it into the hole. The third characteristic is that if the ball is moving too rapidly it will strike the opposite rim of the hole and will jump out.

The ramp type of practice putting cup does not resemble the hole on the putting green completely in any of these three respects. First, if the ball is traveling very slowly it may not have suflicient momentum to climb a ramp whereas on a putting green it would roll into the hole. Secondly, the effect of the ramp is to deflect a ball which on a green would have struck the rim of the cup at one side. Such putts roll off the ramp whereas on the green they would have been deflected in. It is only in the third characteristic that the ramp type cup approximates the behavior of a hole on a green, because if the golf ball is traveling at an excessive rate of speed it will climb up the ramp, strike the opposite edge of the cup and bounce out. However, even in this respect the resemblance to an actual hole is only partial because the ramp imparts to the ball an upward component so that a hard hit ball which might still not have jumped out of an actual hole may be thrown upward. On the other hand, if the ramp is sufficiently long climbing it slows the ball down so that sometimes a ball which would have sufiicient momentum to jump out of an actual hole may be slowed sufliciently so that it will not jump out of a ramp type cup.

In order to obviate some of the disadvantages of the ramp type practice putting hole, a diflerent type of device was proposed many years ago and is described in U.S. Patent 1,208,838. In this practice cup or hole there is no depression. On the contrary there is a central post carrying a ring from which a large number of pins depend so that there is not sufficient space between them and the surface where the practice hole is used for a golf ball to pass. This type of practice putting cup represented an advance but it still possessed a number of drawbacks. It is with an improved putting cup of the suspended pin type that the present invention deals.

The practice cup in the patent above referred to solves one of the problems in a satisfactory manner. The pins swing easily inward so that a lightly hit ball aimed diperfectly the behavior of a real hole.

vided with a mounting base which is on one side only,

rectly at the hole will pass under the pins even though it is moving very slowly on contact. There is no resistance such as is imposed in the climbing of a ramp. The pins will not swing in the reverse direction so that once a ball has passed under a pin it is held within the cup or rather within the area which simulates the cup. In other words, the swinging pin type of cup solves satisfactorily one of the three conditions encountered in an actual hole.

The swinging pins, while they will not swing outward, are designed to swing through a considerable angle sidewise. This is a serious defect because it prevents simulation of a putt which rims the hole sufficiently slowly finally to drop in. Such a putt which hits the pins at quite an angle will not be deflected into the hole because the pins move through a considerable horizontal angle.

The third requirement that there be an accurate simulation of the jumping out of the hole of a putt which, while aimed straight, is hit too hard and hence moving too rapidly is not simulated. The support of the ring carrying the pins which is central interposes a central rod. It is true that if the ball is moving at very' high speed it is possible to overturn the cup at least in its indoor form in which the central rod is supported on a large round base. In the case of the outdoor form which includes a sharp point on the rod and is driven into the earth, the central rod will retain a gold ball entering through the swinging pins no matter how hard it is hit and there is nothing which would cause such a ball to jump out.

The centrally supported pin trap has another practical disadvantage. The ring which carries the pins must be supported and this requires a spider extending from the central rod. As a result there is not a full opening and removal of a ball from the trap is diflicult or in the case of some spider designs impossible without lifting the trap. In other words a centrally supported pin trap will normally accumulate several golf balls before the difficult operation of emptying it is undertaken. The presence of the balls already in the trap or hole further aggravatesthe problem of the excessively hard hit ball. Sidewise deflection from other balls is more likely to take place;-v

and only a very hard hit ball will upset the hole.

The present invention avoids all of. the problems presented by the ordinary suspended pin trap and simulates The cup is proopposite to the direction in which the practice putts are taken and has a sloping face or ramp, and a hard hit ball aimed squarely at the cup will jump out of the device finder the circumstances that it would jump out of a real ole.

The pins of the putting cup of the present invention, which also can swing in but not out, continue to give a perfect simulation of a real hole in the case of a squarely aimed ball that has just barely enough momentum to reach the hole. However, instead of permitting the pins to swing through a substantial arc horizontally, the pins are mounted in slots so that they have practically no horizontal movement whatsoever. As a result, a glancing ball pushes in the pins that it first hits and when it encounters a pin which would correspond to the edge or rim of the hole it is deflected in and cannot continue in a straight line, thus simulating perfectly the directing elfect of the rim of a real golf. hole.

The invention will be described in greater detail in conjunction with the drawings in which; 7

Fig. l is a vertical elevation seen from one side, and

Fig. 2 is a plan view.

The device of the present invention is provided with a support 1 and a sloping base plate 2, which, of course,

is normally integral with the support. Carried by the Patented Mar. 14, 1961' upper surface 5. In the slots are mounted pins 6 which are journalled on projections or small pins 7 which are shown of slightly exaggerated length for clearness.

The bottom ends of the pins 6 extend down leaving a space between them and the surface on which the putting cup rests. slightly less than the diameter of a golf ball. When. struck at their lower edges by a golf ball the pins move inwardly freely as they are journalled near their point of balance. They cannot move out because the upper portion of the pin strikes the recessed portion, of the ring 5. Likewise the pins cannot move sideways because the slots do not permit any lateral motion.

In operation the device of the present invention shares with other suspended pin types a perfect simulation for a straight hit ball with barely enough momentum to reach a hole. If, however, the ball is hit so that it strikes a glancing blow the first pin struck will swing in, the next pin will be struck by the ball but it cannot swing laterally. If, therefore, the ball wasv aimed sufficiently nearly into the hole so that in an ordinary hole it would roll around the rim and finally fall in, the further pins will deflect it inwardly because they cannot swing out. This is in marked contrast to the type described in the abovementioned patent where the pins can swing through a considerable lateral angle.

The problem of the ball which is hit straight toward the practice cup but hit too hard is also fully simulated. The support at one side leaves a sloping ramp inside the cup and a hard hit ball swinging the pins inwardly and striking the ramp at the rear of the support will jump out giving a clear indication that if this had been a real hole the ball would have jumped out. The action of the slope or ramp on the support is entirely different from ramps leading up to a cup. It only acts after the ball is already in the cup.

It is an advantage of the invention that the device is not only fully effective in simulating the characteristics of an actual hole but can be economically produced. The support base and pin ring may be of metal but preferably are of plastic, the construction which is shown in the drawings. The pins are inserted easily as there is sufficient give in the plastic, particularly when it is still warm, so that the pin shoulders or bosses 7 snap into place. Once snapped in, the pins fit accurately in the slot and will not jump out. It is a definite economic 4. advantage with construction of the present invention that perfect simulation is obtained in a structure lending itself to simple and economical production.

I claim:

1. A practice putting cup comprising in combination a base having an extended sloping ramp which is in the form of at least a portion of a sector of a circle with the low edge thereof extending into the circle, a support carried by said base and provided with an elevated portion at a predetermined height and at least partially surrounding the low edge of the ramp, pins spaced sufiiciently to prevent jamming but less than a golf ball diameter journalled in said element at a point below their tops so that they swing radially inward toward the sloping ramp, positive means for preventing the pins from swinging sidewise and means for preventing the pins from swinging outwardly away from the sloping ramp.

2. A practice cup accordlng to claim 1 in which the means for preventnig the pins from swinging outward is an upper portion of the pin carrying element back of the pins and engaging their tops thereby preventing outward swinging.

3. A practice putting cup comprising in combination a ring, a support for said ring maintaining it at a predetermined height, said ring being provided with an upper recessed portion and spaced pin carrying slots at right angles to the circumference of the ring, a plurality of pins journalled in said slots at a point below their tops, the spacing of the slots being sufiicient to prevent jamming of the pins but less than a golf ball diameter, the upper recessed portion being spaced to encounter the tops of the pins and to thereby prevent them from swinging outwardly, the pin carrying slots being sufficiently narrow so that they constitute positive means for preventing sidewise movement of the pins.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 954,299 Johnson Apr. 5, 1910 2,742,293 Davis Apr. 17, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,649 Great Britain AD. 1915 358,914 Great Britain Oct. 14, 1931 

